Saturday, March 26, 2011

The TUC March for an Alternative: The Condem Emperors have no clothes

  This photo college is from today's TUC march in central London. Some 250,000 protesters are estimated to have turned up. I marched alongside UNISON Housing Association branch and UNISON London region.

I felt the day was a great Labour movement family success. The trade unions had members there from all over the UK. Including many who have never marched before. 

The March was cheerful, colourful, noisy but determined.  In Newham local trade unions, Labour Party members, Councillors and the Mayor met up and marched together against this Tory led Government savage cuts to our public services.

It was a great day affected only a little by the antics of a tiny number of spoilt brat parasites who were up to their usual nonsense. I simply cannot repeat the language I heard by genuine working class trade union marchers about these Tory 5th columnists.

At the Rally in Hyde Park Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband and UNISON General secretary Dave Prentis spoke to a great reception.

At the rally I was interviewed by a Spanish radio journalist. She asked me why was it so important to be on this March? Luckily for me we had a discussion on this while marching and I was able to pinch someone else's big idea.  I explained to the journalist that the main reason for marching today is that many people in this country had believed (wrongly) that the cuts are all necessary.  But by getting hundreds of thousands of people to come together and say "No they are not" will help change minds. People will realise that Emperor Cameron and Clegg - have no clothes.

(Click on picture to bring up detail and I will post more pictures from the march on FaceBook).

Update: UNISON TV Youtube on March - some members of my branch are in the background at around 1 min 24
Update: Photos from March here on Facebook.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

More people went on the countryside march and Blair never even bothered to acknowledge it, so I don't hold out much hope that anyone will be bothered about this.

Who is paying for the clean up operation - the vandalism? Maybe Miliband could contribute or the Unions?

Anonymous said...

31 police officers injured - a successful day for the Labour movement?

Anonymous said...

Did you vote against the budget cuts in Newham then?

If not, bit of a cheek for you to even turn up, let alone give it the usual prolier-than-thou carping about those whose political approach is different than yours...

Kenneth Taylor said...

I thought the last Labour Government bent under backwards to pay attention to the minority Countryside alliance?

Err..don't you believe in democracy and peaceful protest.

The vandalism and injury to Police was not caused by the trade unions. It was caused by right wing bigots.

Remember these posh public school anarchists are just extremist ultra free market Tories who like dressing up in turtle ninja costumes. They will soon grow out of it and rejoin Daddies company.

Anonymous said...

these cuts were caused by this Eton Millionaires Tory cabinet and funny enough they didn't ask John to vote on them.

Anonymous said...

Actually the cuts were a result of Gordon Brown's legacy.

Anonymous said...

err...no. as been pointed out by john and elsewhere it was the thieving, Tory Bankering fraudsters who have caused this recession.

and we are all paying for it.

Anonymous said...

Good to see that ed Miliband went to the same excellent school as Boris Johnson - just fancy that.
Who was it that knighted the bankers and set the FSA up? Who sold the gold reserves?

Anonymous said...

John,

I'd find your commitment to the anti-cuts cause a bit more convincing if you had voted against the budget presented by the mayor, which will result in massive job losses in Newham and a reduction in front line service delivery.

But as it was passed unanimously you must have supported it.

Blame the government if you like for the overall level of the financial settlement and the need to find savings, but how much time did you and your colleagues devote to examining alternatives, or questioning the mayor about his proposals? Was there even a word of challenge?

You didn't, did you? As ever, you rolled over and you let him have his way. Did you go his victory party afterwards to celebrate'?

A so-called Labour mayor enthusiastically doing the Tories' dirty work for them while crying crocodile tears about for the poor disgusts me. But 60 Labour councillors too frightened for their own jobs to speak out appals me.

Your hypocrisy in the joining an anti-cuts march is breath-taking.

Anonymous said...

donkey anon 11.08. it was a London state primary school not Eton.

Someone who was not left enough. Ed will not make the same mistake when we become the masters again in 2015 (or before).

Anonymous said...

Tory or Trot anonymous (they are both simple minded selfish extremists – you really cannot tell the difference between them as this comment proves).

Of course John did the right thing. A Labour Council defending its people as best it can against the Tory cuts. Obviously you want kids to stop having free school meals in Newham and then let Pickles run the council.

The only breathtaking hypocrites are the Tories who don't give a damn about the poor and the Trots who by wreaking and splitting the opposition don't give a damn about the poor either.

Another Anon said...

What was the first thing Robin Wales did when he got re-elected? Give himself a big pay rise.

In this all together eh?

How can Robin Wales do something like this when there are cuts in services?

Even though 100% of the Councillors are Labour. I am sure that Robin Wales will make the deepest and harshest cuts to prove a political point.

I have lost faith in NEWHAM Labour party. Notice emphasis on the word NEWHAM!.

Baz said...

another anon - get real and don't be such a t**t! Mayor Robin Wales was awarded an increase by a independant panel and he then gave this money away to charity and did not keep it. What is the story? You all know this but you still decide to repeat Tory lies.

Een more Tory and Trot lies is to say the Council is cutting because it wants to...?????

Who cares what you think (full stop) about "Newham Labour Party". We don't care what Tories or Trots think either.

You are the ones doing Camerons and Cleggs work for them.

Anonymous said...

Baz,

I'm afraid you are wrong.

The panel simply made a recommendation, there was NO obligation on the Council to approve it or for the mayor to accept it.

If he gave it away it he was effectively making a donation with our money - very generous of him! Do you think he'll do the same again next year, or will he just quietly take the cash?

Anon 20:01 - How is making an extra £41 million of cuts defending Newham people? How is paying consultants £2000 a day while sacking low paid workers defending us? How is handing a £40 million loan to a couple of multi-millionaires and saddling council taxpayers with the risk putting Newham people first?

I don't want Pickles running the council anymore than I want Cameron and Clegg running the country - what I want is a Labour council that's worth the name and a mayor who doesn't waste his time on grandiose and self-serving schemes but focuses on delivering the best for Newham.

A good start would be for the 60 councillors, including John, to actually do their jobs and hold the mayor to account for his decisions - a bit of thorough-going scrutiny and challenge.

Anonymous said...

Actually Ed and Boris both atteneded primrose Hill primary school - just fancy that? Tony Blair went to the Scottish Eton - Fettes - just fancy that!

And the bankers mistakes - a;; occured duri ng 14 years of Labour government. So enough lectures.

Chris Godwin said...

I'm not sure anonymous that you don't really want Pickles to run the Council and Cameron and Clegg to run the Country. What have you done to oppose this? Let’s see - you repeat the Pickles Tory lies that Labour councils are deliberately cutting more than is necessary for party political reasons, you repeat the local Tories lies about £41 million cuts which you know is not being cut but being spent on services, you don't want part public ownership of the Olympic stadium which cost £700 million of public money and is getting £55 million of funding to convert?

Sounds to me you like you are Mike Law or Neil Pearce or one of the other local Newham Tory bores and fantasists.

Neil

So what Ed and Boris went to state primary school? BTW Blair is not PM anymore not even a MP - Labour will not make the same mistake again about the bankers when we are in power again.

Since you like history remember "Squeeze, pips and squeak"

Anonymous said...

Chris Godwin,

Ha ha, very funny. Let me assure you that I'm not Mike Law or Neal Pearce. In fact I've never even met either of them.

Why do you assume that anyone who criticises the Mayor and our supine council must be a Tory? Why do you assume that opposition to the decision to loan £40 million to Gold and Sullivan and load the risk on to Newham residents means I oppose public ownership of the Olympic Stadium?

Your blind faith in the mayor and his intentions is touching, but I'd prefer a bit more robust political debate about the cuts and about the "investment decisions" being made with our money.

Chris Goodwin said...

Bit late to try and take the moral high ground anonymous? If you are not a Tory supporter then you are doing their dirty work for them and you are Tory poodles.

BTW Get your facts right. The loan is to set up the a company to run the stadium. 50% publically owned.

Trots and Tories - both the same in my book. Both of them don’t give a damn about working people.

Anonymous said...

Chris,

You think criticism of the mayor and his idiotic schemes is "doing the Tories' dirty work for them"? I'm sure they say the same sort of thing in North Korea if people dare question the Dear Leader. It's an attitude I find contemptible.

Regarding the Olympic loan, whether the money goes direct to Gold and Sullivan or funds an arms-length Stadium Company the effect is the same: the only beneficiaries are two multi-millionaire porn barons, who will see the value of their company, WHUFC, rise significantly as the result of higher gate revenues and reduced overheads. And in the long run, if Newham owns (in whole or in part) the stadium company, who is on the hook for repairs and upgrades as the building wears out? Remember, most of the stadium was designed to be temporary, with only 25,000 permanent seats - it wasn't designed for week in, week out use. But by the time the bills come in Sir Robin will be safely ensconced in the House of Lords, leaving us to clear up the mess.

Anonymous said...

anonymous it is you who are utterly contemptible for siding with the Tories. We know your sort. No doubt they are your former public school mates.

If the west ham owners makes money so will the Council (as all the projections predict). The stadium is being converted at a cost of £55million into multiple use.

It is pathetic that those who pretend to be on the "left" are blinded by personality politics on these issues and are following the local Tory line regardless of merit. Shame on you.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Chris,

Again, oh dear. I didn't go to public school, I went to the local comprehensive.

So plainly you don't "know my sort" at all. You've been 100% wrong every time: not a Tory, not a Trot, not Mike Law or Neal Pearce, didn't go to public school.

So why not drop the name-calling and actually address the issues? Explain how a Labour council voting unanimously for a massive cuts budget is defending ordinary people and services in Newham? Explain why there are £2000-a-day consultants running round Building 1000 while frontline staff are being sacked because of the cuts? And explain why the mayor's priorities included bringing London's largest casino to its most deprived borough?

It's not me that's doing the Tories' dirty work for them, it's the mayor and the supine Labour-in-name-only council he leads.

Chris said...

Oh dear

You are just a little precious about identity considering you post anonymously. As for the name calling, well, you know what they say about living in glass houses.

You are obviously public school. The arrogance and ignorance of your class is unmistakeable. Its rule or ruin for you lot.

If it walks like a duck, if it quakes like a duck, if it looks like a duck. It is a (Trot Tory) duck.

Keep up the good work! Cameron and Clegg will be very proud of you.

Anonymous said...

Chris
I think from the style of arguments that "oh dear" is one of the CPA anti-Muslim and anti-gay Christian fundamentalists (the CPA are the Newham predecessors of the EDL) who "comments" on Newham e-democracy forum.

So he is right - he is not a Tory or a trot he is just a plain old every day fascistic bigot.

Not me, someone else! said...

Chris,

is your name "Godwin" or "Goodwin" or something else?

Chris Goodwin said...

it Goodwin - blogger is unforgiving to fumble fingers

Anonymous said...

Chris,

With all due respect, I think I know better than you what kind of school I went to.

You seem unwilling to engage in any kind of debate and just resort to name-calling and preposterous assumptions about my background and politics, all of which are completely wrong.

Your friend, Anpn 16:27, seems to have taken the tactic to an even more stupid conclusion, inferring from just 2 words ('oh' and 'dear') that I must be a gay-bashing, muslim-hating evangelical christian fascist nutcase.

You obviously think winning the argument is about ignoring what the other person is saying and just SHOUTING LOUDER; and that labelling someone a tory, or a trot or a public schoolboy means you can invalidate anything they have to say. It's a bit tragic, and utterly pathetic, but entirely consistent with the insular, opposition-free, "how dare you question us" Newham Labour world view.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon. 10:37

And, on the basis of that analysis, Chris Godwin, Chris Goodwin and Johnno Gray are all one and the same - same style, same blinkered outlook.

Not Johnno said...

Oh dear
What breathtaking sanctimonious hypocrisy. Too late to try and gain the moral high ground.

Please just look at your previous comments. Typical of the Newham “opposition” - they think its alright to sound off but react like children if they get anything thrown back at them.

Get a mirror and have a long look.

“Why are the opposition in Newham so completely rubbish?”

Chris

Anonymous said...

well "oh dear" are you a gay-bashing, muslim-hating evangelical christian fascist nutcase or not?

We should be told.